Hockenheim II: Friday practices report

Final DTM weekend kicks off in mixed conditions
During the first test of the 2006 season's final DTM weekend, held at
the Hockenheimring Baden-WÃ¼rttemberg, the 20 Audi and Mercedes-Benz
drivers had to cope with mixed track conditions. Prior to...

Final DTM weekend kicks off in mixed conditions

During the first test of the 2006 season's final DTM weekend, held at
the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, the 20 Audi and Mercedes-Benz
drivers had to cope with mixed track conditions. Prior to the 85-minute
session, the circuit had been hit by a rain shower and the track dried
only partially, over the course of the session. AMG-Mercedes C-Class
driver Mika Häkkinen turned out to be the one who succeeded in coping
best with these conditions.

On his fastest lap, the two-time Formula 1
World Champion lapped the 4.574-kilometre circuit in 1:48.955 minutes,
with Bernd Schneider finishing second, 0.035 seconds behind the Finn.
Third position on the time sheets was secured by the quickest Audi
driver, Christian Abt. Yet, with his 2005-spec Audi A4 DTM, the German
was more than six tenths of a second slower than Häkkinen.

Tom Kristensen finished fourth, behind Abt. The Dane, who is going
to battle it with Bruno Spengler for the runner-up position in the
championship, completed a total of 22 laps and set a personal fastest
lap time of 1:49.715 minutes, while Spengler finished eleventh, 1.529
seconds behind his Mercedes-Benz brand-mate Häkkinen. In the drivers'
championship, Spengler (53 points) holds second position, three points
ahead of Kristensen (50).

Jamie Green, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Mattias Ekström came fifth, sixth
and seventh respectively, with two other 2005-spec car drivers also
making it to the top ten: Timo Scheider finished eighth and Alexandros
Margaritis secured tenth position, while Martin Tomczyk set the ninth
fastest time. Thed Björk, who made a great DTM debut at Le Mans,
succeeded in impressing again: as the fastest of the 2004-spec Audi
drivers, he finished twelfth.

Following an off-track moment of Audi's Frank Stippler, the session had
to be red-flagged for eight minutes. When the German went off, the front
of his car was massively damaged, thus preventing him from continuing
his practice work. But when the car was salvaged and the track cleaned,
the session could be continued.

Spengler sets fastest time of the day in second test

In the second DTM test, the autumn showed itself from its sunny side. In
the morning, conditions were still changing, but it became friendlier
later on. With temperatures ranging around 20 degrees, the track already
dried off after a few minutes.

The times from the morning session didn't
say very much, but Bruno Spengler set the fastest lap of the afternoon
session and the fastest time of the day with his AMG-Mercedes C-Class,
lapping the track within 1.34.992 minutes. With his Audi A4 DTM, Mattias
Ekström closely followed the three times' race winner. In his fastest
lap, the Swede was 0.188 seconds down on Spengler's best time. Mika
Häkkinen, who had been fastest in the morning, was now third.

85 minutes - no particular incidents and business as usual: the second
heat went as planned, drivers and teams completed their test programmes
and did long-runs. Martin Tomczyk in fourth and Pierre Kaffer in fifth
place were faster than the new DTM champion Bernd Schneider, who was
sixth. Audi-driver Kaffer was also the fastest with year-old machinery
with his 2005-spec Audi A4 DTM. The top 10 was completed by Jean Alesi
in seventh, Stefan Mücke in eighth, Heinz-Harald Frentzen in ninth and
Timo Scheider in tenth place.

After his accident early in the first test, Frank Stippler could join
the action again in test 2. His Rosberg-team got his car in order again
in time. He set a personal fastest lap time of 1.35.930 minutes.

Thed Björk was quick once more: in 15th place, the Swede was again the
best-placed driver with a 2004-car. The battle of the DTM ladies was won
by Susie Stoddart (18th place). On her fastest lap (1.36.812 minutes),
the Scottish lady racer was 0.652 seconds faster than Vanina Ickx, who
ranked in 20th position.